Tornado shooting not cold in win at Alaska Fairbanks

FAIRBANKS, Alaska - King College picked up the first win of the 2010-11 men's basketball season Thursday at the Alaska Invitational with an 88-64 decision over host Alaska Fairbanks.

The Tornado improved to 1-2 on the season and will play West Florida at 7 p.m. eastern Friday.

King never trailed in the game. The Tornado stormed out and scored the first five points. Fairbanks tied things at 8-8 3:33 into the game. The game featured two more ties after that but Cordarrell Eldridge (Skokie, Ill.) put King up for good with his free throws with 13:47 left in the first half. His two free throws made the score 14-12.

The Tornado pushed the lead out to 31-16 in the next five minutes and never looked back. Fairbanks got within a dozen, but King took a 51-34 lead into the locker room at halftime.

The smallest lead King enjoyed in the second half was not unlucky when the Tornado led 53-40 with 15:48 to go. Seven straight King points made the advantage 20 and it never got below 20 the rest of the game.

Jason Seymore (Powell, Tenn.) paced King once again with 18 points and 11 rebounds. He was 6-for-10 from the field with a pair of three pointers. Clarence Smith (Nashville, Tenn.) poured in 15 points along with seven rebounds and five assists. Brian Hewitt (Lexington, Ky.) and Mark Dockery (Nickelsville, Va.) had 14 and 11 points, respectively.

The Tornado went 32-for-72 (44.4 percent) from the field and hit 11 long-range 3-pointers. Defensively King held Alaska Fairbanks to a 21-for-53 (39.6 percent) performance. The home team could only knock down two 3-pointers.

King won the rebounding battle 48-28 and forced 20 turnovers. The Tornado used 17 offensive rebounds for 18 second-chance points.